Bellringer Name as many figures of speech as you can. What is the difference between a metaphor and a simile? What does figurative language add to a piece of fiction? Why does an author use it?
Figurative Language in Poetry
Figurative Language Metaphor Simile Personification Hyperbole Onomatopoeia Alliteration Assonance Imagery Idiom
Metaphor Definition: figure of speech that compares two unlike things where the two things actually become the same (compare to Metamorphosis) Direct Metaphor: usually uses a form of the verb to be and the comparison is directly stated. Extended Metaphor: continues throughout the poem or section of the poem. Implied Metaphor: not said outright. Example: Her hair was a river of golden light.
Simile Definition: figure of speech that compares two unlike things, usually with the words like or as. Example: The dog s eyes were as bright as the sun.
Metaphor and Simile Metaphor and simile are easy to mix up. They both compare two different things. Remember that similes use the words like or as, and metaphors do not. Simile is like similar Metaphor is like metamorphosis = to change
Personification Definition: figure of speech that gives the qualities of a person to an animal, an object, or an idea. Example: The house wept when its last child left.
Tricky Personification Personification should not to be confused with an animal doing something a human could do, but that is natural for the animal to do. Example: The dog walked with me in the woods. (not personification) The trees walked with me in the woods. (personification)
Hyperbole Definition: An exaggerated statement, not to deceive, but to make a point. My sister took a decade to answer the phone.
Idiom Definition: Language specific expressions. Example: I caught a bus to school. http://www.idiomsite.com/
Imagery Definition: Language that appeals to the senses. Descriptions of people or objects stated in terms of our senses. Example: The red dawn made the sky a fiery battle scene.
Sound Devices Alliteration Assonance Onomatopoeia Sound Devices contribute to the rhythm of a poem.
Alliteration Definition: Repeated consonant sounds occurring at the beginning of words or within words. Alliteration is used to create melody, establish mood, call attention to important words, and point out similarities and contrasts. Example: The girly goose jumped to the top of the tallest tree.
Assonance Definition: Resemblance of sound, especially of the vowel sounds in words. Example: Hills of willy nilly sprites.
Alliteration and Assonance Alliteration usually comes at the beginning of a word and repeats consonant sounds. Example, Shakespeare parodies alliteration in Peter Quince's Prologue in A Midsummer Night's Dream: Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade, He bravely breach'd his boiling bloody breast. Assonance usually comes in the middle of the word, and repeats vowel sounds. Example, Assonance of the vowel "u" used by Robert Louis Stevenson: The crumbling thunder of seas
Alliteration and Assonance Can you find an example of these terms in one line of the poem, "The Raven," by Edgar Allan Poe: And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain 1. Assonance is the repetition of the ur sound in "purple" and "curtain. 2. Alliteration is the repetition of the s sound within "uncertain" and "rustling. and the repetition of the s sound at the start of "silked" and "sad." These terms are very closely related, though the distinction between them comes in determining vowels versus consonants.
Onomatopoeia Definition: The use of words that mimic sounds. They appeal to our sense of hearing. A string of syllables the author has made up to represent the way a sound really sounds. Example: The buzz of the bees made my head spin.
Practice Time! 1. The girl in the purple dress had teeth like a horse. 2. simile 3. My dog was a beast before I fed him. 4. Metaphor (direct) 5. Sweetly Sang Sam with the starlit hair. 6. alliteration 7. Ella, my neighbor, is 500 years old. 8. hyperbole 9. When he saw the rolling of the ominous clouds, he knew a storm was coming. 10. assonance 11. The grass by the house was like stringy hair around a beggar s face. 12. simile
More Practice 1. I definitely got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. 2. idiom 3. The sun came up on the horizon and spread its delicate fingers of light over the mountain 4. personification. 5. Ben smashed the perfectly round, red ball against the brick wall. 6. Imagery, alliteration, assonance 7. The wasps hummed and buzzed around the grapevine. 8. onomatopoeia 9. The box listened and waited for the moving men to fill it with our life s belongings. 10. personification 11. The rooster s comb is a red plumed hat. 12. Metaphor (direct)
Tiny Feet by Gabriela Mistral A child's tiny feet, Blue, blue with cold, How can they see and not protect you? Oh, my God! Tiny wounded feet, Bruised all over by pebbles, Abused by snow and soil! Man, being blind, ignores that where you step, you leave A blossom of bright light, that where you have placed your bleeding little soles a redolent tuberose grows. Since, however, you walk through the streets so straight, you are courageous, without fault. Child's tiny feet, Two suffering little gems, How can the people pass, unseeing. Read the poem Find the figurative language
Tiny Feet figurative language Abused by snow and soil alliteration (repeated s) Blue, blue alliteration (repeated b) Feet=gems (metaphor, direct) Blossom of bright light imagery, alliteration (repeated b) assonance (i) Being blind alliteration (repeated b) Bruised all over by pebbles (imagery)
References Jordan, Tonia. (2007). Alliteration, Assonance and Consonance. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?alliteration,-assonanceand-consonance&id=675686 No Author (2011). Metaphor and Simile. Retrieved from http://www.differencebetween.net/language/differe nce-between-metaphor-and-simile/